


Will You Defeat Your Demons

by NelindeA



Series: Fragments [6]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Bus crash story, FLUFF who would have guessed, Gen, I hate summaries why do they have to exist, References to Depression, but seriously this is just a load of fluff, interactive introverts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 11:01:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17703134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NelindeA/pseuds/NelindeA
Summary: Just a very brief story of Phil helping Dan through the hard times.





	Will You Defeat Your Demons

The day did not start out very promising. 

Mainly because Phil, asleep on the tour bus, was jolted awake by a horrific noise and the bus lurching and swerving. A million thoughts flew through Phil’s head, mostly consisting of “I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m gonna die, that’s it, we’re all dead, we’re all gonna die in the middle of some desert on some bus…” before he realized that the bus was now stationary and the world apparently seemed to be existing as usual. 

Phil heard mutterings of confusion as the few people on the bus climbed out of their bunks to see what had happened. He waited in his own until he couldn’t hear their voices anymore, and then he leapt out and followed them outside. 

There was even more chaos outside than there had been inside. The car that had apparently ploughed into their bus was a complete wreck, and the driver of it was now having a go at the bus driver, while everyone just kind of stood around staring, not sure what to do or how they should be reacting. 

It only took about ten seconds for Phil to survey the situation and determine that Dan wasn’t there. And now he was freaking out for an entirely different reason, as he immediately turned and reentered the bus, heading straight for Dan’s bunk.

Dan’s curtain had moved aside just a bit, enough so that Phil could see he was still lying there. He grabbed the curtain and yanked it the rest of the way back, crying “Dan, Dan wake up already!” while shaking him in a panic.

Dan blinked and stared, but without moving a muscle. “What is it Phil?” he mumbled in annoyance.

“Are you okay?” Phil demanded. 

“Not anymore,” Dan said, pulling his blanket up to his face and closing his eyes again. “Go away.”

“The bus got hit,” Phil said excitedly. 

“What do you mean the bus got hit?” 

“I mean someone crashed into our tour bus. Seriously, did you not feel it? Come on, get up, everyone else has.” 

Dan’s eyes opened halfway once more, and he gave Phil a pleading look. “I can’t,” he said, his voice muffled by the blanket. “Not now, I…”

He stopped, but he didn’t need to finish. Phil recognized the look. If Dan woke up and felt that dull, painful emptiness, there was nothing he could do but try and sleep it away. Even if that took all day sometimes. 

“Okay,” Phil said softly. “Okay.” He watched Dan’s eyes drop shut again and then slowly closed the curtain, before returning to the chaos outside. 

When Dan got up a couple hours later, the bus was still stationary. Phil was in the lounge when Dan walked in, holding a cup of coffee. 

“Hi,” Dan said. 

“Hi,” Phil replied, glancing up and watching his face. 

“Quick question,” Dan said, sipping his coffee. “Why aren’t we moving?”

Phil raised his eyebrows. “Because the bus got hit, remember?” 

Dan choked on his drink. “The bus what?” 

“I did tell you that,” Phil said. “Anyway, they’re still figuring out stuff with the police. But we should get going soon.” He continued to watch Dan’s face. “You’re telling me you didn’t feel it?” 

“I thought I dreamt you telling me…” Dan said. He shook his head. “Wow. Is…everyone okay?”

“Oh yeah.” Phil nodded. “No one got hurt, even though the other car got totaled. All the bus got was a small dent.”

“That’s good,” Dan said, collapsing onto the sofa. “I can’t believe I slept through that.” 

“Yeah, thanks for freaking me out when you didn’t wake up, by the way.” 

“Sorry.” Dan yawned and pushed his fingers through his hair, instead of delivering the defensive comment that Phil had been expecting.

“Are you okay?” Phil asked carefully. 

Dan nodded. “I’m fine. Just tired.” 

“Still?” 

Dan looked over at his friend with weary eyes. “Still.”

They were both silent for a moment until Dan jumped up. “Come on, let’s get on this Insta story opportunity.”

“Seriously?” Phil asked, following his example. 

“Sure, it’s something exciting that happened to us. Who knows when that’ll happen again?”  
…  
Phil was comforted by the fact that Dan seemed to have warded his oncoming depressive episode, and hoped that the rest of the day would go better. And it did, and they had a lovely meetup and a very energetic show, but by the time they’d arrived at their latest hotel, both were almost falling asleep where they stood, and were barely paying attention as they checked in. 

“Room 233,” the receptionist said, handing Phil two key cards. “On the second floor.”

“Wait,” Dan said. “Where’s my room?”

The receptionist glanced at her computer. “That’s what I have you down for. One room, two queen beds.”

“That’s what the two door keys are for, duh,” Phil said, handing him one. “Come on.” 

Dan glanced at the receptionist. “Can we change it?” 

“Why do you want to change it, Dan, we know every hotel is a wild card. Sometimes we get our own rooms, sometimes we don’t.”

“Fine, whatever,” Dan said, following Phil towards the lift. 

“Literally what is your problem, Dan?” 

Dan gave a tired smile. “You, you turnip, you always act like we’re girls at a sleepover and you want to spend the whole night whispering under the covers. I just don’t want you keeping me awake tonight is all.”

“Oh.” Phil giggled apologetically. “True. But I’m tired too, so I promise I won’t do that tonight.”

“You’d better not.” Dan found their room and opened the door, and it before half an hour had even passed both of them were in bed, with the lights out, and all electronic devices put away. 

Phil wondered if he’d had to quench the urge to talk to Dan, as for some reason he always did feel it when they shared a hotel room. But he didn’t have to wonder for very long, as he fell asleep within five minutes. 

But he was awoken in the middle of the night by a sound that he couldn’t quite decipher at first. It was like a gentle thumping, and it wasn’t until he bothered to roll over and investigate that he saw what it was. 

It was Dan, pacing around the little patch of carpet that wasn’t taken up by furniture. 

Phil just watched him for a couple of minutes. Dan didn’t pace in front of him, ever. Phil walked in on him doing it sometimes, but Dan would always stop when he saw. Phil was aware that he did it, but he’d never seen the way Dan bit his fingers, and then fiddled with his hair, and then just wrapped his arms around himself, and then just let them fall and dangle.

All while walking around and around in circles.

Phil couldn’t watch anymore. “Dan?” he ventured, and Dan immediately stopped and whipped around. 

“Sorry, did I wake you up?” he asked anxiously, though he must have known that he had, so Phil didn’t bother answering. 

“What’s wrong?” Phil asked, sitting up. “What are you pacing for?”

Now that he wasn’t moving, Dan looked unsure of what to do with himself, so he just stood there, with Phil staring intensely at his silhouette.

“I don’t know,” he finally said. 

“Well, think about it.” Phil reached over and turned the bedside lamp on. “Are you just having trouble sleeping?”

Dan bit his lip and looked away. “Yeah.” 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know,” Dan said desperately. He was silent for a while, and Phil was too, and then he said, “I’m…maybe on the verge of a bad day and I’m scared that I’ll wake up tomorrow and not be able to do anything.”

“Yeah.” Phil nodded. “I thought you might be, when I woke you up this morning.”

“I can’t stave it off forever.” 

“I know.” Both were silent again for a bit, with Dan chewing his lip and not looking at Phil, until Phil suddenly slid out of bed. “Come on, Danny boy. Let’s go for a walk.”

“What?”

“A walk,” Phil repeated, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to suggest in that moment. “Not actually outside, I’m not that insane. But this is a huge hotel, so we’ll just wander around for a bit.”

“Yeah, cause that doesn’t sound like we’ll get lost or anything.” But Dan was giving a tiny ghost of a smile. 

They made their way down to the lobby, which was made up more of entertainment areas and cafes than anything else. They moved very slowly, not saying anything, until they stumbled across a room with a grand piano.

“Wow,” Phil said. “I didn’t realize this hotel was so posh.” 

“Yeah, who has a freaking grand piano in their hotel lobby?” Dan scoffed, gravitating towards it all the same.

He sat down on the bench, and Phil said down next to him, nudging his shoulder. “Play it,” he whispered. 

“What, now? Do you know what time it is?”

“Please, no one’s gonna hear. I don’t even think there are any rooms on this floor.”

Dan hesitated for a moment, but then slowly lifted his hands, and the melody of their song from the end of Interactive Introverts began to float through the air. Phil watched intently watched every key that Dan pressed and didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he let it out as the last notes died away. 

“We’re gonna be so sick of that song by the end of this,” Dan murmured.

“No we’re not.” Phil said it so confidently that Dan didn’t seem to want to challenge it. 

Phil nudged him again. “Play something else.”

“That’s all I know.” 

“Well that’s not true.”

“It’s the only thing I know perfectly, in its entirety, without having to play it by ear.”

Phil nodded. “Why don’t you just get piano lessons?”

“I will,” Dan said softly. 

“What? Really?”

Dan nodded. “Mmhm. When we get back. I won’t tell them, though.”

Phil giggled. “Why not? We know they love it.”

“Yeah, and all they’ll ask for is for me to play it.” 

“Well, that’s true.” Phil looked around anxiously. “Hey, you think Tom Hiddleston is around here waiting to tell us off for playing the piano?” 

Dan laughed. “Why, because he’s a hotel night manager? There’s the Phil we know and love. Worried about awkward situations with people. If you’ll remember though, you are the one who told me to play the song.”

They did begin to make their way back, though, going just as silently as they had come. Minus the piano incident, of course. 

When they’d climbed back into their beds, they still were silent, until Dan finally broke it by saying, “Sorry for being a massive hypocrite.”

“When were you a hypocrite?”

Dan laughed softly. “I told you not to keep me awake tonight. And then I went and—”

“Stop that sentence right now,” Phil said. “I always want you to wake me up if you need me, okay?”

Dan was silent again for a very long time after that, so long that Phil was practically asleep by the time he finally heard Dan speak again. 

“Thank you, Phil.” 

Phil smiled.   
…  
For the third time in a row, Phil was awakened in not the most desirable of ways. 

He was awoken the next morning by a brisk rapping on the hotel door. 

He groaned as he rolled out of bed, knowing he’d have to answer it because of course Dan wouldn’t have heard it, and grasped at the handle several times before latching on and opening it. 

A professionally dressed hotel woman was standing there, but looking as if it was too early for even her to be awake. “We’d like to ask you not to play the piano in the lobby at 3 in the morning again,” she said in a flat voice, and then began to turn away. 

“Wh—how’d you know that was us?” was probably the question Phil shouldn’t have asked. 

She barely turned her head back. “We do have security cameras. And we got some complaints.”

Phil watched her leave and closed the door, then looked back at the boy in the other bed. He was all tangled up in the bedclothes, with his hair tousled and falling all over the place, but he was peacefully sleeping now and that was all that mattered. 

Phil grinned. He didn’t know how long Dan could fight off his depressive episode. Maybe today would be the day that he lost. 

But somehow, Phil doubted it. Playing the piano had seemed to calm him down considerably, and if breaking the rules was what it took for Dan to be happy, then Phil was do it again, and again, whenever it was necessary. 

Screw the hotel and its customer complaints. They were nowhere near as important.

**Author's Note:**

> I never know how to end a story. My endings are all the worst because I want them to feel like a conclusion, but also wrap everything up nicely in a way that relates to the theme I'm going for. Therefore they always sound cheesy and like the conclusion paragraph of an essay. 
> 
> The beginning was inspired by the story of their tour bus getting hit, and Dan sleeping through it. There was an Insta story on it, right? And also they mentioned it in the Brazil livestream? I swear they mentioned it somewhere else, too, though now I don't know where.


End file.
